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ACADEMY REPORT

Our Academy finished a creditable third in the prestigious Eurofoot tournament in Belgium.

Our Academy finished a creditable third in the prestigious Eurofoot tournament in Belgium.

The lads were unbeaten until the semi-final when they lost 2-0 to eventual winners Anderlecht. They went on to topple Belgian side Germinal Beerschot in the third/fourth place play-off.Here, coach Pat Holland gives us the rundown on the tournament...

"The first game on the Friday morning was against Club Bruges, 0-0, a decent game and a fair result.

"In the afternoon we played Djurgaarden Stockholm and beat them 1-0. We played well and Simon Dawkins scored and that completed a pretty good first day.

"The second day was quite hectic. We played Cercle Bruges first and beat them 3-1, a comfortable win. Matty Wells, Jamie Davis and Simon Dawkins scored in that one.

"PSV Eindhoven were next. That was always going to be a difficult game and it ended up 1-1. We scored from a set-piece with a Leigh Mills header, one we'd worked on last season so that was nice. That was a fairly even game although I thought we shaded it.

"That took us into the last group game and we needed to beat Germinal Beerschot, a side from Antwerp, Belgium, to reach the semi-finals. They were already through and therefore fielded a younger side and we ended up beating them 5-0.

RADWAN HAMED SCORED A HAT-TRICK, RICHARD HELLER ADDED ONE AND HE DID WELL IN THE TOURNAMENT AND MILLSY SCORED AGAIN.

"That win took us into the semi-final on the Sunday against Anderlecht.

"I thought we had a good chance against them but on the day we didn't play particularly well. We made an error after they played a ball in the box and they opened the scoring and led 1-0 at half-time.

"We had a go in the second half but it was a bit stop-start and then gave an unnecessary free-kick away, great ball into the box, great header and it was 2-0 and that was that.

"It was a shame because we'd played so well up to then and I felt it was a great opportunity to get into the final.

"To their credit Anderlecht went on to win the final against Eintract Frankfurt.

"Our final game was against Beerschot again in the third and fourth place play-off final and we beat them 3-0 this time, another comfortable win with Jake Livermore and Leigh Mills (left) scoring.

"All in all it was a great trip with schoolboys getting games and experience - Jake Livermore must have played an hour, great for him - and plenty of plusses. It was hard work but it's a fantastic tournament, the people are great and it's an excellent way to help preparations for the season."